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Monday, February 18, 2008

Don't know about you, but I cannot believe it's almost the third month of the year!Where the heck did the time go?

Since its very auspicious start, 2008 has been a blur, sort of like looking at the world through a stretched piece of taffy, while riding a roller coaster, the roar of the wind drowning out all thought.

So I am trying to slow down a bit just now. Seeking a stillness.Stillness. . . it's so elusive, isn't it, in this immediate gratification world of ours?

I'd like to share a few seconds of digital video that I recorded at Blue Spring State Park in Florida last month. Jeff, Liz, Lisa, and I went there seeking manatees and we saw at least 30. It was a clear, snappy-cold morning, so the manatees were attracted to the springs' warmer water. There is a calming stillness in the way this gentle, giant creature moves effortlessly through the water.

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comments:

This site (Blue Spring State Park)is nice because it's NOT a power plant outflow. Those sites have lots of warm water and also lots of warmth-seeking manatees. Problem is security concerns have placed most of the plant outflow sites off-limits here in FL.

Thank You for sharing , my wife and I try to get down to Florida every couple of years and must admit we go to Homosassa Springs just to see these wonderful creatures , It is funny but I was watching PBS yesterday about a close relative of the Manitee the Dugong which is not doing as well

Never been to Blue Spring State Park but maybe we should make the effort

"Sometimes I see me as an old manateeheading south as the waters grow colder. He tries to steer clear of the hum drum so near, it cuts prop scars deep in his shoulders.That's how it flows, right to the end..His body's still flexible but that barnacle brain don't bend...."

They are such graceful gentle creatures. A friend of mine has a house right on Biscayne Bay and has a manatee frequently hanging around his dock. He named it "Chrissy" after me. I'm hoping that's a compliment.

About Bill

Bill of the Birds

Bill Thompson III is the editor of Bird Watcher's Digest by day. He's also a keen birder, the author of many books, a dad, a field trip leader, an ecotourism consultant, a guitar player, the host of the "This Birding Life" podcast, a regular speaker/performer on the birding festival circuit, a gentleman farmer, and a fungi to be around. His North American life list is somewhere between 673 and 675. His favorite bird is the red-headed woodpecker. His "spark bird" was a snowy owl. He has watched birds in 25 countries and 44 states. But his favorite place to watch birds is on the 80-acre farm he shares with his wife, artist/writer Julie Zickefoose. Some kind person once called Bill "The Pied Piper of Birding" and he has been trying to live up to that moniker ever since.